The invention relates to access doors into and out of dwellings for pets, and more particularly to access door panels for placement in existing sliding door frames, wherein the doors are usually of glass and framed in aluminum. Several patents have been issued to inventors seeking solutions to the problems attendant to such access door panels, among them:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,158, Greene, issued Sept. 2, 1969 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,733, Blackwell, issued Apr. 11, 1972.
Conventionally access doors for pets have been equipped with swinging flaps, usually top-hinged so as to be operable easily by the pet, such as a dog or a cat. Some access doors have been placed in the sides of buildings, while others have been placed in upright panels mountable at one side of the framed opening for sliding glass doors, such as those giving egress to patios and porches. In the case of the latter installations, the large variety of door heights has been a great problem, often thwarting economical installation due to the time taken in modifying the pet access door panel to fit the frame of the door opening. Locking of the added panel to preclude unauthorized entry has been another problem, as has been adequate sealing of the area around the swinging door flap. The present invention affords a height-adjustable pet access door panel which is easy to install, positively fixed in place in cooperation with the existing sliding doors, and effectively sealed against weather when in use.